A new Pew Research report is confirming the trend that more people than ever are using cell phones to access the Internet instead of desktop PCs and other devices and shows how the current digital divide is being bridged… and a new one could open.

The report’s findings show that 55 percent of cell phone users use their phones to go online, and of that group 31 percent use their phone the most to go online.

“That works out to 17% of all adult cell owners who are ‘cell-mostly internet users’–that is, who use their phone for most of their online browsing,” the report stated.

The use of cell phones for online use seems to be set along income and racial lines, as well.

“Half (51%) of African-American cell internet users do most of their online browsing on their phone, double the proportion for whites (24%). Two in five Latino cell internet users (42%) also fall into the ‘cell-mostly’ category,” the report read. “Additionally, those with an annual household income of less than $50,000 per year and those who have not graduated college are more likely than those with higher levels of income and education to use their phones for most of their online browsing.”

If these results are indeed representative of the population, it would mean that the so-called digital divide, where those with poorer incomes are not be able to access the Internet or use local software because they can’t afford a computing device, may be getting bridged through alternate means.

WASHINGTON: A growing number of Americans use their mobile phones to access the internet, and some use that as their only device to get online, a survey showed Tuesday.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project found 88 per cent of US adults had a cellphone of some kind as of April, and 55 per cent of them use their phone to go online.

One out of six, or 17 per cent of cellphone owners do most of their online browsing on their phone, rather than a computer or other device.

Most do so for convenience, but for some their phone is their only option for online access, the survey found.

Young adults and non-whites are most likely to use their cellphones for the majority of their online browsing, it found.

Among 18-29 year-olds, 45 per cent said they do most of their online browsing on their mobile device. That was also true of 51 per cent of African-American cell internet users and 43 per cent of Latinos.

“Cellphones are convenient, always available — 64 per cent of cell-mostly internet users mention factors related to convenience or the always-available nature of mobile phones when asked for the main reason why they do most of their online browsing on their cellphone,” a Pew report said.

Hispanic and African-Americans are among the earliest adopters of mobile shopping technologies.

Smartphones are more popular than ever with some estimates that mobile penetration is now nearly 50 percent of the total U.S. marketplace. But one of the most surprising aspects of today’s mobile channel is the rapid pace at which Hispanic and African-American consumers are utilizing mobile shopping technologies.

The Checkout, an ongoing consumer shopping behavior study published by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research reports that 18 percent of African-American consumers and 16 percent of Hispanic consumers regularly use their mobile devices for purchase transactions — rates that are significantly higher than the 10 percent of Caucasians who use mobile for online purchases.

By Michelle Manafy
You can’t travel two clicks online without someone extolling the virtues of social networking for marketing, sales, recruiting, and overall information sharing. But opinions are mixed about the usefulness of social networking inside the enterprise.

It is easy to understand how most managers would be loath to encourage wanton socializing on the job, but social networks have proven to be valuable tools for achieving business objectives outside the firewall. And according to the research firm Altimeter Group, there are ways to construct social initiatives inside the enterprise for success.